Workshops

There will be three half-day workshops, each running from 1pm until around 6 pm on the 11th March. Workshop registration is now closed. If you have signed up to a workshop, you should have recieved confirmation - if not, please contact nof2015@uib.no. These are the workshop descriptions:

1. NiN pre-launch worskhop. Auditorium A, VilVite

The new nature type classification for Norway (NiN) will be launched during spring 2015. In this seminar we'll get a guided tour into the past, present and future of NiN by the main developer of the system, professor Rune Halvorsen (UiO). He will give us a tour of the theoretical background of NiN, and explain how it compares to the existing vegetation classification system. What are the lessons learned from the development process, and has NiN lived up to the expectations during the test phase? What is the future potential of NiN, and how can the ecological society contribute?
This workshop will be a demonstration and round table discussion.

2. Introduction to new techniques for the spatially-explicit modelling of species distributions by Joe Chipperfield (UiB), Auditorium B, VilVite.

Species distribution modelling has become an important tool in modern biogeography and macroecology. Despite the utility, over a decade of extensive application has revealed a number of deficiencies in these methods. In this workshop I introduce a suite of novel methods to address the following considerations:
1) Dealing with uncertainty in your observation data. Is an 'absence' really just an absence of the species or an inability to detect a present species? How about 'false presences'?
2) Non-climatic spatial processes that also limit species ranges. How do we account for the processes such as dispersal limitation, barriers to dispersal, and biotic interactions?
3) How do we deal with spatial biases in the reporting of species observations? How do we build an appropriate observation model to account for these biases?
The workshop is introductory in nature and no specialist knowledge of spatial modelling is assumed. However a familiarity with the R statistical platform will be beneficial in order to follow the exercises. Please bring a laptop with you if you have one, with R installed.

Ecology is an exciting subject with many important applications and relevance to society. How do we effectively train future generations of ecologist? What should future ecologists know and which skills should they master? In this workshop we want to create a forum to discuss teaching methods, curricula and learning strategies in ecology.
Anyone interested in teaching and ecology are welcome - and we hope this can be a forum to share ideas and experiences of former students and current teachers on how to better convey the central ideas in ecology. We may also discuss what these central ideas and skills are.
Christian Jørgensen has taught a basic course in ecology and evolution, where he has used a number of techniques to improve student engagement.
Øyvind Fiksen is Head of Education at Department of Biology, UiB, home of the bioCEED Centre of Excellence in Biology Education. They will chair the workshop and trigger discussions.

After the workshop, there will be a social event at the Villa house of Knut Fægri, a vital figure in the development of paeleoecology and of UiB, with tapas and drinks provided (7pm - 9pm, Knut Fægris hus, Villaveien 9).